Bellflower auto shop owner reunites with stolen iguana

BELLFLOWER - Ken Schmidt fought back tears Wednesday as he recalled the day his beloved pet of 17 years, an iguana named Lizard, was stolen from his cage in the lobby of Schmidt's auto mechanic shop in December.

"I was like, I can't believe this. Why would somebody break in just to steal an iguana? We got tools, we got cars," Schmidt said, pointing around his shop. "It sucked. It was heart-wrenching."

Nearly six months later, the shop owner was reunited with his pet after Los Angeles County sheriff's investigators arrested the suspected culprit.

Investigators used advanced investigative techniques, tracing DNA from blood found at the scene, to Jesus Alcaraz of Downey.

Alcaraz, 19, was booked at the Lakewood Station on June 2 on suspicion of burglary, possession of a firearm, cultivation of hash oil and possession of marijuana, authorities said.

And earlier this month, sheriff's deputies returned the pet to its owner.

For weeks, Schmidt said, "we sat here and looked at an empty cage and I'd say, `We've got to do something with that cage."'

After a few months some neighbors asked to buy the cage, but for some reason, Schmidt couldn't part with it, he said.

Lizard was only 9 inches long when he came to live at the shop. Seventeen years later, Lizard is now 4 1/2 feet long and weighs 30 pounds.

The loss of Lizard, who had become the neighborhood pet, affected the entire community, said Schmidt, whose business has been there for more than three decades.

"(Neighbors) noticed he was not here and his heat lamp was out at night," he said. "Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought we'd get him back."

Only a few weeks after Schmidt refused to sell the cage, investigators arrived with a photo of the person whose DNA matched the blood found at the scene, he said.

According to Schmidt, officials seemed to be as excited about finding Lizard as he was about getting him back, he said.

When patrol cars drove up, Lizard was visible in the back window, "calm and collected," Schmidt said.

"He was just happy and I brought him back and put him back in his cage," he said.

Despite the theft, Schmidt has no plans to remove Lizard from his shop cage.

"He belongs here. He's kind of a shop pet," he said. "Customers really enjoy seeing him when they come here, and he's a conversation piece - he always has been. And now, he's a movie star."